


cliché (in a high school musical sort of way)

by katsuk1



Category: NCT (Band), SM Rookies
Genre: Anyways, CLOSE ENOUGH IN MY BOOK, High School AU, I swear, M/M, No Angst, also, also surprisingly, and mark and jeno are on the football team, and nothing else, but i hope u guys like it anyway :)), but i see it more as a best friend kind of relationship, but if this ship floats ur boat thEn i won't stop u man, but there !!!, donghyuck jaemin chenle koeun and hina are all on the cheerleading team!!, high school musical was a cinematic masterpiece don't @ me, hmmmm, i barely swore in this, i wrote ass one (1) time, i'm active there !!, idek where i got the inspiration to write this, is this even anna ?, jaeno and chensung are rlly minor, ok there's like a lil bit of koeun x hina, questionable, that i've surprisingly never written before, the classic jock x cheerleader trope, this is vv fluffy, this isn't like popular!hyuck x admirer!mark bUT, unbeta'd as hell btw, who knows - Freeform, yell at me on tumblr ! @chenle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 04:12:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14072646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katsuk1/pseuds/katsuk1
Summary: two four six eight, who does hyuck appreciate?(hint: it's mark.)





	cliché (in a high school musical sort of way)

**Author's Note:**

> henlo! i know not all of u guys read tags, so i'm gonna repeat some stuff here!
> 
> ✿ this is unbeta'd! (like all of my fics LMAO)  
> ✿ markhyuck is the main ship! jaeno and chensung are mentioned, but still there! (´ゝз・`)ﾉ⌒☆  
> ✿ koeun x hina isn't implied or anything, but i guess u could interpret it like that? they hug like once and koeun calls hina 'sweetheart', but i see it more as a best friend type of relationship? but idek, u can interpret them as best friends or girlfriends, however u like! (●´ω｀●)  
> ✿ i'm active on my tumblr @chenle! feel free to follow me there if u like, i post headcanons and bullet point fics there (✿◠‿◠)  
> ✿ please leave kudos and a comment if u enjoyed this fic !! i really enjoy reading your guys' reactions and thoughts, and it really makes me want to write more (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Donghyuck bends down, placing his palms flat on the ground and blows his bangs out of his face. He focuses and unfocuses on the tan gym floor, feeling his breath go in and out without a hitch.

“You don’t have to show off, Mark isn’t even here yet,”

Donghyuck whips his head up to glare at his best friend, only to get a loud shriek of laughter and a head shake.

“Shut up Jaemin,” hissed Donghyuck, standing straight up again. “Just because I’m showing off my _amazing_ flexibility doesn’t mean I’m doing it for Mark,”

Hina snorts at the emphasis Donghyuck puts on _amazing_ , turning her eyes away when he directs his glare from Jaemin to her, continuing to tie her hair up in a short ponytail.

Jaemin hums, unconvinced, a smirk resting teasingly on his face. His eyes are rested on his phone screen, fully clad in his cheerleading uniform. If Donghyuck looked close enough, he could count the goosebumps on Jaemin’s bare arms.

As if the world was reading his thoughts, Chenle barges out of the changing room with an oversized hoodie adorned over his frail body. The hoodie is big enough that it goes down to Chenle’s knees and effectively covers up his cheerleading form entirely. Donghyuck wonders why Chenle would buy a hoodie so ill-fitting, but when Chenle runs past Donghyuck, he sees the embroidering _JISUNG 35_ on the back and his question is answered before he has even thrown it into the air.

“It’s so cold!” Chenle wraps his arms around himself and lets out a dramatic exhale of air, completed with a dying dolphin sound and Jaemin rolls his eyes, his smirk softening into a bemused grin.

“I don’t understand why they’re making us wear our uniforms when it’s just a practice,” Donghyuck huffed, crossing his arms over his chest to generate what little warmth he can. To add insult to injury, their coach was late, and if she was any later, Donghyuck would have to pull the cheerleading captain card and start warm-up himself. He really did _not_ want to do that.

“Maybe it’s to give the football team some motivation,” Jaemin wiggles his eyebrows and earns himself a loud groan from both Donghyuck and Chenle.

“The only person who’s getting motivation from our practice is Mark, and that’s from him being able to see Donghyuck for an hour and a half.” Koeun slips onto the bench beside Jaemin, throwing Donghyuck into an even bigger spiral of embarrassment when she gives him kissy faces, accompanied by smooching noises. Jaemin follows suit and Chenle laughs, giggling into his hoodie collar.

Donghyuck feels himself flush a bright red from his neck to his cheeks and he leans forward to flick Koeun on the forehead as a defense mechanism.

“Hey, respect your elders!” she rubs her forehead with a pout and rests her head on Jaemin, using her as a shield. The laugh hiding under his tongue finally escapes, the loud noise ringing through the empty gym.

“Oh, I’m _so_ sorry grandma, I should’ve known better.  I can’t wait to go to your funeral and tell everyone how great of a person you were.” the sarcasm is layered thickly onto his words, but it’s nothing Koeun isn’t used to.

“You’re gonna miss me next year when I go off to uni,” Koeun says smugly, crossing one leg over the other.

She’s right. Donghyuck has known Koeun since he was a middle schooler, and now that he’s a junior in high school, he’s going to have to accept the fact that he’s going to wake up one day and not walk to school with the most annoying person he knows. He’s going to have to get used to not having Koeun as his neighbour and not having one of her homemade sandwiches being tossed at him everyday.

“Good riddance!” Donghyuck fired back, throwing his arms up in the air. He lets out a huff and turns his head away, refusing to make eye contact with Koeun because if he does, he’s going to think about Koeun graduating and then he’s going to cry.

“Come on guys, let’s just start warm-up,” Jaemin intervenes with a chuckle. He gives Donghyuck a knowing glance and Donghyuck makes a mental reminder to buy Jaemin ice cream after practice.

Chenle lets out a piercing whine, reluctantly pulling his arms through the holes of his hoodie sleeves. His head disappears under the mass of black fabric, appearing again soon after with disheveled hair and a frown.

“It’s cold,” he restates bluntly. A smile splits Donghyuck’s lips at how childish Chenle was being and he doesn’t know why, but his legs move him until he’s right beside Chenle, an arm around his shoulder.

“It’s okay,” Donghyuck reassures, rubbing his hand on Chenle’s arm to warm him up. “We’ll be warmer after warm-up. It’s not called _warm_ -up for nothing,”

Chenle shoves Donghyuck away with a cry of _“shut up hyung_ _!”_ and Donghyuck laughs, clapping his hands together to gather the team’s attention.

  
°。°。°。°。°。°。°。゜。°。°。°。

  
Donghyuck was wrong. The warm-up kept their minds of the cold gym, but as soon as they relocated to the corner of the football field, they were shivering again.

“Do you feel how cold I am?” Hina places her hands on both sides of Donghyuck’s cheeks, making him shriek and push her hands away from him. “It’s _freezing_ outside, what the hell?”

“Even the sunshine isn’t helping,” Koeun sighed, wrapping her arms around Hina. The younger gladly accepts the newfound heat, snaking her arms around Koeun’s waist.

“Stop whining, get into position.” Donghyuck snaps his fingers and the two girls grumble, but don’t protest.

He lets out a shaky breath when another gust of wind blows past the field, wishing his t-shirt were a sweater. When he takes a glimpse at the football team doing drills, he can see Mark talking to his team, his back facing Donghyuck. Jeno, Mark’s best friend (and Jaemin’s _embarrassing_ boyfriend) catches Donghyuck’s eye and waves wildly, yelling his name from across the field.

Mark turns around to see where Jeno’s yelling to and Donghyuck pivots on the balls of his feet hurriedly, returning to his own team with fire red cheeks. Jaemin hollers a _“hey babe!”_ to Jeno, blowing a kiss and Donghyuck resists the urge to go home right then and there. He doesn’t need to look back at Jeno to know he’s pretending to catch the kiss thrown at him as we speak.

  
°。°。°。°。°。°。°。゜。°。°。°。

  
Donghyuck can’t feel his face or fingers, his body sore from all the flying he’s been doing. He can tell Chenle feels the same way when he sees him fall dramatically into Jisung’s arms. Cheerleading practice and football practice begin at the same time and end at the same time, so it’s not rare to see the two together so often. Donghyuck still thinks it’s gross every time they act all lovey-dovey, though.

Donghyuck’s about to throw a tantrum if he doesn’t get inside quick, but when he turns to Jaemin, he’s not looking at him. Donghyuck figures out why when he looks beyond his best friend, and straight at Jeno and Mark, coming right at them.

Jeno pecks Jaemin’s lips with a big grin, his eyes narrowing into crescents to the point where you can’t even tell if his eyes are open or closed. Donghyuck rolls his eyes, turning away from the couple and Mark laughs, obviously catching his diva moment. Donghyuck and Mark lock eyes for a moment, and he can see the blush growing on the football player’s face. A sudden rush of butterflies (and blood. Mostly blood.) invade Donghyuck’s heart and he curses the Gods for giving Mark Lee such a cute smile.

“Um, it’s pretty cold out here,” Mark commented, rubbing the back of his neck. Donghyuck bites back a sardonic reply.

“Yeah, aren’t you guys cold?” Jeno added, glancing at his boyfriend concernedly.

“Warmer now that you’re here,” Jaemin beams, snuggling closer to Jeno’s side.

Donghyuck sighs, rolling his eyes again. He’s afraid that if he rolls his eyes anymore, they’ll get stuck in the back of his head. “Well not everyone has a football player boyfriend to keep them warm,”

Jaemin sticks his tongue out and leans down to kiss Jeno’s cheek, just to spite Donghyuck.

“Here, take my jacket,” Mark slips off his varsity jacket, leaving him in only a white t-shirt. Donghyuck opens his mouth to say something, but when Mark places it over his shoulders, all the words he wants to say get stuck in his throat.

“Won’t you be cold?” Donghyuck’s already slipping his arms through the jacket’s holes as he asks, and Mark laughs again, his cheeks reddening further.

“It’s okay as long as you’re not cold.”

It’s far from a pick-up line and it’s not anything smooth, but Donghyuck’s heart stops beating altogether. He bites down onto his lower lip and hides his hands in the jacket pockets so Mark can’t see him clench them into a fist in an attempt to not break down from cuteness overload.

“We should go inside,” Mark places a hand on Donghyuck’s shoulders and he feels it burn, leaving a feeling that won’t go away for days. “Jaemin and Jeno already left.”

Donghyuck finds himself following Mark wordlessly, his heart threatening to burst out of his chest.

  
°。°。°。°。°。°。°。゜。°。°。°。

  
“He gave you his varsity?” Renjun shoots up from his laying position on Donghyuck’s bed, his eyes gleaming. Donghyuck can’t tell if they’re gleaming from the room light, or if Renjun really is made of stardust.

“It’s not anything special,” Donghyuck murmurs, a smile inching onto his face and a red hue creeping onto his cheeks.

“Not anything special my ass!” Renjun throws a pillow at him, laughing when Donghyuck throws it back. The mood mellows down a bit, uncommon in a situation like this. Renjun’s brown eyes have melted into a chocolate puddle at the sight of his friend looking so out of it. “You really like him, don’t you?” the boy asks softly, hugging Donghyuck’s teddy bear to his chest.

Donghyuck lets out a sigh and plops down onto the bed beside Renjun. “I don’t wanna bother you with mushy love talk.” he can’t tell if he doesn’t want to talk about it, or if he’s telling the truth.

“What else are sleepovers for?” Renjun chuckles, nudging the other boy gently.

The cheerleader hesitates, knowing that once he starts talking about Mark, his heart will accelerate to the point where he won’t even be able to sleep.

Donghyuck finally gives in when Renjun starts shaking him and by the time he’s done talking, the sun has set and the stars have come out to kiss them goodnight.

  
°。°。°。°。°。°。°。゜。°。°。°。

  
Donghyuck finds Mark at his locker Monday after school. He’s placing what seems like a million textbooks into his locker and Donghyuck wonders how he manages to juggle AP classes and sports at the same time.

“I just wanted to say thanks again for the jacket,” Donghyuck tries not to sound like he’s gushing (but it totally sounds like he’s gushing).

Mark smiles, all wide and full of sunshine. Donghyuck doesn’t understand how people like Renjun could be made of stardust and how people like Mark could be made of pure sunshine. They make Donghyuck wish he were as spectacular as them.

Donghyuck shakes the thought away and digs through his backpack to find the jacket. When he pulls it out and tries to hand it to Mark, he shakes his head.

“Keep it,” a grin replaces his child-like smile as he leans against his now closed locker. “We’re getting new ones soon, anyway.” Mark licks his lips, almost nervously as he glances off to the side, and then back to Donghyuck. “You should wear it to the game next week.”

The cheerleader falters, shifting his weight as an unsure smile dances on his lips, his heart pounding a million beats per minute.

“I’ll be sure to get us another win if you do,” added Mark slyly, his grin growing by the second.

Donghyuck purses his lips to tame the smile trying to escape. “Alright.” he says simply, nodding. “But you better win,” he adds, teasingly.

“I’ll win as long as you’re there,” Mark slings his backpack over his shoulder and begins to walk off. Before he’s out of sight, he turns to call over his shoulder. “See you around!”

  
°。°。°。°。°。°。°。゜。°。°。°。

  
A lovestruck haze follows Donghyuck around all week, only growing with every thought of Mark. He feels like a little kid developing his first crush.

He stirs into his coffee mindlessly, giving the white noise and chatter of the cafe no mind. He doesn’t even care when Chenle laughs an ear-splitting laugh, attracting other people’s eyes for sure. He’s too lovestruck to think straight: his heart is in overdrive and his brain has surrendered.

“Why are you smiling into your coffee like that?” Jaemin’s gone through two cups of coffee at this point, claiming he has an essay due tomorrow that he hasn’t began and ‘needs the caffeine’. Renjun told him he’s going to ‘need a trip to the ER’ if he doesn’t stop.

“Obviously lover boy over here’s thinking of Mark,” Koeun answered for him, eyeing him over the rim of her coffee cup as she takes a sip.

“You should just ask him out already,” Chenle chimed, resting his chin in the palms of his hands, elbows on the table.

Donghyuck doesn’t tell Koeun off, mind too foggy to function. He knows that if he tries to engage in a battle with Koeun right now, he’ll lose right off the bat.

“I just… I don’t know how.” confessed Donghyuck, the smile leaving his face immediately. Donghyuck’s a wimp and he knows this. The only confessions he’s seen are in his dramas and they only happen in the rain or on a school rooftop. He hates the rain and heights are terrible.

“Don’t you guys have some big game next Wednesday?” Renjun stuffs a whole macaron into his mouth, his cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk. Donghyuck wants to tell him about his chipmunk-like qualities, but his mouth won’t open and he lets the thought settle at the back of his brain.

“Why’d you have to mention it? Now I’m stressed again,” Hina pouts into her hot chocolate and Koeun rolls her eyes.

“Sweetheart, when are you not stressed?” Koeun only smiles when Hina swats her shoulder.

“Shut up, Renjun’s onto something,” Jaemin silences Hina and Koeun with ease and Renjun chomps down onto another macaron before continuing.

“Just confess to him after the football game. He’ll be happy he won and be double happy when his crush confesses to him.” Renjun shrugs, leaning back into his chair. He’s poker-faced, but everyone around the table knows he’s proud of himself for coming up with such a plan. “Easy,” he adds, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Easy, huh,” Donghyuck takes a sip of his cold decaf and lets the plan simmer in his heart. When it doesn’t boil over and his heart doesn’t get scorched, he thinks that maybe this plan isn’t so bad after all.

  
°。°。°。°。°。°。°。゜。°。°。°。

  
Or maybe it _is_ really bad and Donghyuck shouldn’t let his heart decide things. He’s been breathing in shaky breaths and breathing out even shakier ones all night. He wants to say it’s that he’s going to forget the routine, but Donghyuck knows the choreography forwards and backwards. He could do it in his sleep, but right now, he really wishes he weren’t as confident with it so he can blame the jitters on something _other_ than his confession to Mark. It doesn’t help that his varsity jacket still smells like its owner, even though Donghyuck has worn it so much already.

His heart thumps all throughout the routine, even when he’s smiling for the crowd and his heart begins to leap into his throat when their team is down two points and the game’s going to end in just a few moments.

He can feel Jaemin’s grasp on his arm tighten and the entire atmosphere hanging over the squad is thickening, almost to the point of suffocation.

But hey, that’s what cheerleaders are for, right?

“Go, Mark!” the words leave his mouth instantaneously, without a second thought. He knows Mark heard him because as soon as he gets a hold of the ball, he’s running faster than Donghyuck’s ever seen him run.

The cheerleaders begin to follow suit, yelling, screaming whatever encouraging words pop into their head. It’s almost cliche, in a High School Musical kind of way, if Troy was a football player and Gabriella was a cheerleader.

Donghyuck doesn’t get to dwell on the cheesiness of his analogy. Jaemin is jumping up and down, yelling into his ear and laughing like there’s no tomorrow. He watches as his best friend runs into Jeno’s arms, hugging him so tightly Donghyuck’s sure Jeno can barely breathe.

Donghyuck finds himself following Jaemin and he weeds through the crowd of players, congratulating them as he passes them by. He goes through half the team until he manages to find the one he’s looking for and his heart knows this because as soon as he sees Mark’s face, it kicks up into gear again.

“Mark, congrats-!”

A confused noise gets trapped in Donghyuck’s throat when he gets cut off. At first, he doesn’t know what cut him off, or what this warm feeling is, but when he feels Mark’s hands hold his face softly, he finds himself placing his own hands on top of his, to keep them there, now and forever.

Mark’s lips taste like cherry chapstick and are too soft to be real. Donghyuck feels like he could die and he’s almost sure he’s going to, his pulse beating at a scary fast level he didn’t know was possible.

When Mark pulls away, Donghyuck wants to pull him right back. Mark’s red face is glowing under the stadium lights and Donghyuck can’t tell if it’s because he just finished a game, or if he’s blushing over what just happened.

“Sorry, I- I just heard you scream my name during the game and seeing you wear my varsity just made me- I just really had to kiss you, I’m sorry, was that okay?” Mark apologized profusely, but Donghyuck was going to have none of it. He laughs and continues laughing even when he smashes their lips together again. Mark laughs into his mouth and pulls him closer by the waist, grinning when Donghyuck throws his arms around his neck.

Donghyuck decides at this moment that his love story was (and always will be) _way_ better than anything High School Musical could ever come up with.

 

 


End file.
